Event Review: Smokey Bones + Leinenkugel’s Beer Dinner

Posted by sunbeer on December 12th, 2012

So I was recently invited to my first event as a beer blogger, which was quite exciting. Smokey Bones in Tyngsboro hosted a beer/food pairing extravaganza, partnered with Leinenkugel’s Brewery from Chippewa Falls, WI, and I was an honorary part of it. Here are my thoughts about the whole event!

I arrived about 15 minutes early and was a bit confused about how to access my seat; as a lone wolf at a party full of, well, parties, I kind of mosied about until I was directed to a table with some fun, entertaining people and began my journey. The first course was an appetizer consisting of smoked barbecue wings. This was paired with Honey Weiss, a simple and unassuming beer combining stylistic elements of an American adjunct lager with some honey and wheat malt aspects. As a pairing with the wings, it was top-notch; the subtle sweetness of the beer worked quite well with the bold spice rub in the wings, and the simple drinkable nature kept the palate quenched for the pretzel “bones” that arrived after. Served with dipping sauces, these salty breadstick-like pretzel pieces were also satisfying with the beer on order. Though a stiff sweetness pervaded the beer and its adjunct-laden (corn/rice mostly) nature couldn’t be denied, I was pretty pleased with this pairing for what it was.

Next up was a fantastic crispy chicken salad with primarily darker, leafier greens (spinach and romaine along with some onion) topped with a menagerie of interesting tidbits. Goat cheese, dried cranberries, pecans and quartered strawberries were spread about, and with the addition of a thick sweet-and-sour style dressing, created a very interesting and satisfying pre-meal treat. The beer paired with this salad was Leinie’s Sunset Wheat, a witbier brewed with blueberry. An attractive beer with a thin but tenacious head and opaque body, this wheat beer worked pretty well with the salad, working to bring out the fruity flavors and keeping the palate light throughout. I was a fan of how drinkable and enjoyable the light, though unassuming, wheat malt character was and I can see the point of the playful blueberry twist, but I was disappointed that the onions in the salad meshed poorly with the beer; after eating one and sipping the beer to see what the interaction was, I was left with a very bitter, unpleasant taste, leading me to believe onions probably had no place in the sweet, hearty salad to begin with. Despite this mishap however, this was probably my favorite food of the night; a creative display full of different ideas all working well together… and they got me to eat a salad. And I enjoyed it. Not sure how that happened.

The main course was a very tender, pink-hued prime rib with a simple rub of salt and pepper (as I was informed by the servers). It was joined by the new Leinenkugel Snowdrift Vanilla Porter as a pairing. The meat was enjoyable and chewy but seemed like it could have probably used a bit more time simmering. The seasoning, though simple, was very effective and I definitely enjoyed this filling main course. The mashed potatoes served with it were excellent and included a bit of the red skin in the mash for some added character and rusticness, and the gravy was full-bodied and extremely hot (I mean scalding; my tongue hurts just thinking about it!). The pairing with the beer was interesting but overall I’m not sure it was the best way to do it. Though the take-home of the night seemed to be to pair big meals with darker, fuller-bodied beers, I felt like the vanilla porter was too light bodied to support the choice. Though dark in color, this flavored beer really didn’t have enough malt punch to satisfy when paired with such a meal. The vanilla came off as extract on the nose and the beer didn’t have the body to drink very well with the food. That’s nopt to say the beer wasn’t good, though; I found it to be flavorful with some stone fruit, dark roasted malt and simple citric/earthy hop aspects backing up the sweetness of the vanilla. It definitely seems to be more focused on flavor than on having the powerful body a porter should have, which I’m not sure is a great call when all is said and done.

Last we had a kind of double-pairing, which was exciting and happened in a very uncoordinated, improvised way. First we were served the traditional, trademark Smokey Bones “bag of donuts” (deep fried battered donuts dusted with cinnamon sugar) served with strawberry compote-style sauce and thick chocolate dip. This was paired with the new Winter seasonal Lemon Berry Shandy. Though that doesn’t seem to make sense as a cold-weather beer, this refreshing beverage worked well when all was said and done. A ruby-tinged, rosy orange/gold with nice head and sporadic lacing, the LBS smelled exactly like rainbow sherbet, right down to having a creamy disposition to it from the base weiss beer. Fizzy and tonic-like, I felt this was pretty satisfying with the donuts, but just as we were cleaning them up we were served some incredibly-presented Devil’s food chocolate cake. For the next few minutes, brewmaster John Leinenkugel discussed the next beer (which I knew nothing about going into this event, I’ll have you know!), Big Eddy. A 9.5% Russian imperial stout, it was served as an ~8 ounce pour in simple goblet-style stemware. I thought this went particularly well with the cake; a very dark brown beer displaying no lacing but full to the nose with roasted malt husks, dark fruit, savory notes and possibly even some smoke. On the tongue, I could feel some lactic sourness and even some barrel/wood flavors, though the body was thin rather than viscous. Not exactly in style but an interesting attempt regardless, and it went quite well with the richness of the cake.

I met Mr. Leinenkugel during the time I was finishing my notes in order to make this very post; he was a nice enough fellow and his assistants at the event were top notch as well. Overall, it was a very fun and satisfying, not to mention satiating, night. I don’t often do beer/food pairings so it was cool to think at least semi-intellectually about these things (cheers to my table partners, too, who were very conducive to discussion about what would’ve made better pairings, etc.). Hope I get to attend another soon to continue expanding my horizons! Until next time, beer fans!